A
abhaya freedom from fear or danger.
abhaya dana the giving of freedom from fear.
abhidhamma the higher teachings of Buddhism, teachings on ultimate realities.
Abhidhammattha Sangaha an Encyclopedia of the Abhidhamma, written by Anuruddha in the 12 century A.D.
abhijja covetousness.
abhinna supernormal power. The five higher powers, which are mundane, are magical powers, divine ear, penetration of the cittas of others, divine eye and remembrance of former existences.
abhisankhara kammic activity giving preponderance in the conditioning of rebirth.
Acariya The Pali term for teacher.
adhimana over-estimating conceit.
adhimokkha determination or resolution.
adhipatis “forerunners” of the arising of the ariyan eightfold Path.
adittihana determination.
adosa non aversion or kindness.
adukkhamasukha neutral feeling.
ahara-paccaya nutriment-condition.
ahetuka rootless, not accompanied by beautiful roots or unwholesome roots.
ahetuka kiriyacitta inoperative citta without root.
ahetuka ditthi the wrong view of there being no cause of what arises.
ahirika shamelessness.
ajiva livelihood.
ajiva-duccarita virati abstinence from wrong livelihood.
akaliko without delay.
akasanancayatana sphere of boundless space, the meditation subject of the first immaterial jhanacitta.
akincannayatana sphere of nothingness, the meditation subject of the third immaterial jhanacitta.
akiriya-ditthi The view that there is no such thing as kamma.
akusala unwholesome, unskillful.
akusala kamma a bad deed.
alobha non attachment, generosity.
amisa dana the giving of material things.
amoha wisdom or understanding.
an-annatannassami t’indriya I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown” faculty, arising at the moment of the magga-citta of the sotapanna.
anagami non-returner, the noble person who has reached the third stage of enlightenment, he has no aversion (dosa) .
Ananda the chief attendant of the Buddha.
anantara paccaya contiguity, proximity-condition.
anantarika kamma heinous crimes.
anatta non self, without abiding substance.
anicca impermanent.
annamanna-paccaya mutuality-condition.
annasamana cetasikas Anna means “other” and samana means “common”, the same. The annasamanas which arise together are of the same jati as the citta they accompany and they all change, become “other”, as they accompany a citta of a different jati. Akusala is “other” than kusala and kusala is “other” than akusala.
annatavindriya The final knower faculty, arising at the moment of the phalacitta of the arahat.
annindriya The faculty of final knowledge, which arises at the moment of the phala-citta, fruition-consciousness, of the sotapanna, and also accompanies the magga-citta and the phala-citta of the sakadagami and of the anagami and the magga-citta of the arahat.
anottappa recklessness.
anudhamma in conformity with the Dhamma
anumodhana thanksgiving, appreciation of someone else' s kusala
anuloma adaptation, the third of the four javana-cittas of the sense- sphere, arising before jhana, absorption, is attained, or before enlightenment is attained.
anupadi-sesa nibbana final nibbana, without the khandhas, aggregates or groups of existence, remaining, at the death of an arahat.
anupassana consideration or contemplation. It is derived from passati, to see, to understand.
anusaya latent tendency or proclivity.
apo-dhatu element of water or cohesion.
appana absorption.
arahat perfected one, the nobel person who has attained the fourth and last stage of enlightenment.
arammana object which is known by consciousness.
ariyan noble person who has attained enlightenment.
arupa-bhumi plane of existence of immaterial beings. For them birth was the result of arupa-jhana.
arupa-brahma plane plane of existence attained as a result of arupa-jhana. There are no sense impressions, no rupa experienced in this realm.
arupa-jhana immaterial absorption.
arupavacara belonging to the immaterial plane of consciousness, thus, arupa-jhanacitta.
asanna-satta plane plane where there is only rupa, not nama.
asankharika unprompted, not induced, neither by oneself nor by someone else.
asankhata dhamma unconditioned reality, nibbana.
asappurisa a bad man.
asavas cankers, influxes or intoxicants, group of defilements.
asevana-paccaya repetition-condition.
asobhana not beautiful, not accompanied by beautiful roots.
asubha foul.
asuras demons, beings of one of the unhappy planes of existence.
atita bhavanga past life-continuum, arising and falling away shortly before a process of cittas experiencing an object through one of the sense-doors starts.
attavadupadana clinging to personality belief.
atta self.
Atthasalini The Expositor, a commentary to the first book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka.
atthi-paccaya presence-condition.
avajjana adverting of consciousness to the object which has impinged on one of the six doors.
avigata-paccaya non-disappearance-condition.
avihinsa the thought of non-harming.
avijja ignorance.
avijjasava the canker of ignorance.
avijjogha the flood of ignorance.
ayatanas sense-fields, namely the five senses and the mind and the objects experienced by them. (The internal ayatanas are the five senses and mind-base, including all cittas, and the external ayatanas are the sense objects and dhammayatanas which includes: cetasikas, subtle rupas mental object) .
avyapada the thought of non-malevolence.
ayoniso manasikara unwise attention to an object.